Back to the Future part V
by Doc Hollywood
Summary: This is a sequel to my 'Part IV' story so it'll probably make more sense if you've read that first.


BACK TO THE FUTURE PART V  
  
"So what do you want to do?" Jules asked, his hands clasped around the steering wheel of the DeLorean. His girlfriend, Mary Ann looked over at him "I don't know, I've never been here before, remember?". Jules smiled as he gazed out of the window "Okay" he said, "what say we hit the slots".  
  
The DeLoreans engine purred as it cruised down the Las Vegas strip, the bright neon lights reflecting off the stainless steel surface of the car. As Jules rounded a corner and headed to one of the big casinos a few papers and magazines slipped off the dashboard and landed at Mary Ann's feet "Oh, sorry" he apologized "Can you get that for me?". Mary Ann picked up the small pile that had accumulated at her feet, shuffling it together "What's this?" she said producing one magazine, "Dinosaur monthly? I didn't know you were into dinosaurs Jules" Jules chuckled, "No it's not for me, Verne asked me to pick it up for him, he's become a real dino nut these days". Mary Ann began to flick though the magazine "Interesting stuff" she pondered "Look at this" she said stopping at one article "It says here that this fossilized skeleton of a Triceratops is thought to be the largest one ever discovered and it was found in Hill Valley". Jules glanced over at the photo of the fossil "Yea, real interesting stuff" "You don't have to be so sarcastic" she laughed as she put it back on the dashboard "Well who cares" said Jules as they pulled up to the casino "let's gambol"  
  
The casino was full and bustling with all sorts of people, slot jockeys, poker sharks, tourists just out to lose money, the house always wins. 'Well not tonight' thought Jules as he made his way towards a poker table. All of a sudden Mary Ann was almost knocked off her feet as a man wearing a long trench coat bumped into her as he hurried past "Hey! Watch it" Jules yelled angrily after him. He looked on as two other men in trench coats followed the man hastily, all making their way towards a door marked 'Security personnel only'. "What the-?" thought Jules. At that moment the door opened as three brawny security guards emerged carrying a couple of large safety deposit boxes. The three trench coat wearing men immediately whipped out handguns and held them to the heads of the guards. Some people screamed and dived for cover as Jules and his girlfriend stood and watched "Hand them over, NOW!" yelled one of the armed robbers "You crazy?" shouted one of the guards "You know there's no way you'll get out of here alive with those". Pushing the guards back threateningly they seized the boxes, "You let us worry about that" he replied. The 1st crook then looked at the other two "You ready?" he asked, they both nodded and the three of them put their hands to their wrist-watches and pressed a button on them. Immediately they were surrounded by a strange kind of vortex, almost as if their environment was bending around them and then, barely moments later they vanished in a spark of light. There was no trace of them left, nor any trace of the security boxes. Jules looked on in bewilderment "What the Hell is going on here?".  
  
The peaceful morning air around Doc Browns home was suddenly shattered as the time travelling DeLorean broke the time barrier and glided over the house and into the year 1906.  
  
"This sounds pretty remarkable Jules" said the Doc as he came down the stairs in his dressing gown "You say these guys just disappeared?" "I swear, it's what happened" exclaimed Jules "It's right" Mary Ann spoke up "I saw it all too". "What's going on?" said Verne rather sleepily, emerging from his bedroom "Just some weird stuff" Jules replied as he tossed Verne his magazine "Oh, hey cool" said Verne perking up all of a sudden. "It just doesn't make any sense" mused Doc as he splashed some water in his face at the faucet, "I mean- disappeared?". "What's this you're all going on about?" called Clara as she came in through the hallway, she had been up early, tending to the shrubbery and flowers outside the kitchen. Jules proceeded to explain to his mother exactly what they had witnessed; "wait a minute" she gasped and quickly turned and made for the study "Mom? Mom, where are you going?" She emerged holding a tatty old folder filled with old newspaper clippings dating back years, "I was sorting these out the other day when I came across this." She produced a particularly old and worn clipping dating back to 1845; the headline read 'Shipment of gold bullion stolen'. The article told of how a boat carrying large quantities of gold to San Francisco was boarded at the harbour by three men who, using firearms gained possession of the shipment. "And here's the interesting bit" said Clara, reading aloud "Once they had the gold the simply disappeared" Jules looked at Doc "What does it mean disappeared?" he asked "Exactly that" she said looking over the article "one moment they're there the next- poof, vanished". "Well" said Doc, clearing his throat "I don't think it can be a coincidence that the exact same thing happened over a hundred years apart, these thieves are obviously using time travel" "Well, it's like no time travel I've ever seen before" mused Jules. "Needless to say" continued Doc "we can't allow for such reckless disregard for the space time continuum, there's no telling what kind of disaster these guys could cause" "but what can we do?" asked Jules "we have no idea where they come from" "But we know exactly where they've been" said Clara waving the article.  
  
The waves broke gently against the bow of the Santa De Alexandra as it sailed into the harbour, the San Francisco skyline visible in the distance. A slight breeze was blowing that day and as Doc watched the approaching ship from the dockside he glanced up at the seagulls circling overhead. "How'd they fit?" he asked, turning to Jules and Verne as they pulled on their jackets "Oh great, real stylish" replied Verne sarcastically as Mary Ann looked on. All of them were wearing clothes of the period so they would blend in and as Jules placed a large hat on his head he also pulled a long scarf around his face and joined his father at the edge of the dock. "Any sign of these guys we're looking for?" asked Mary Ann "No, not yet" Doc replied. Once the ship was finally tied securely to the dock and various harbour labourers had started their unloading, the four of them made their way up onto the deck. "Hold it" called out one rugged looking sailor "Who are you?". Out of the corner of his eye Verne spotted three guys emerge from the cabin carrying a large chest, he quickly turned and nudged Jules, motioning towards them, "It's them!" Jules yelled out, causing everyone's heads to turn. The sailor advanced towards the men "Hey, what are you doing with that!?" he bellowed at them. The three of them immediately motioned for their wristwatches "No!" yelled Jules as he ran across the deck and leaped onto one of the crooks. Just at that moment the air around them once again began to bend and ripple and a second later they had all vanished, the three men, the gold and Jules.  
  
Jules opened his eyes to find himself in a darkened room; it appeared to be some kind of warehouse. Jules noted a grubby sign on the wall that read 'Titus Industries' but it was when he looked behind him he saw something that really got his attention. It was some kind machine that went right up to the ceiling; it had endless flashing lights, dials, gauges and a funnel. 'What?' Jules looked again, yes it had a funnel from a steam locomotive and right in the centre of this mammoth contraption was a Flux Capacitor! A date readout below it read 2045, and just as Jules motioned towards it to examine it further it suddenly whirled to life. Sparks began to fly as two gigantic power conductors fizzled with electricity and swiftly shot out streams of energy which accumulated to create some kind of portal. Jules looked on in amazement when suddenly from behind him came a shout of "Now!" Before he had time to turn round he felt himself being shoved through the portal and he landed flat on his face. He jumped to his feet just as he saw the portal close behind him.  
  
Jules surveyed his surroundings he seemed to be in large grassland with some thick woods a few hundred yards in all directions, 'Where the hell am I now?' he thought to himself. He heard what sounded like some kind of bird and looked up, squinting slightly from the sun. It was definitely some kind of bird flying overhead but as it turned it started to swoop down towards him. Faster and faster it plummeted until Jules dived out of its path at the last second. This was no bird; it was some kind of pterodactyl, Jules had been sent to a prehistoric era! The giant winged beast was circling to make another pass at him; his best bet was to make for the woods in the distance. He started to run, glancing behind him to see that two others had now joined the first pterodactyl and they seemed determined to get him. He stumbled as one swooped by him knocking him off balance; gaining his feet again he raced as fast as he could, the flapping sound was deafening, they were right on top of him. With one final lunge in dived into the cover of the wooded area and scrambled to safety in some undergrowth. Staring up from his hiding place he watched as the mammoth birds of prey left. Sitting up, he winched as he felt the bruises and knocks he had taken. How was he going to get out of this? His family had no idea where he was and he had no means of getting out of there himself, he was in deep trouble. He figured he'd better get moving and pulled himself to his feet. As he looked around he began to think that maybe the woods weren't such a safe haven after all; the sounds from all directions were like nothing he'd ever heard before and he felt overcome with a sense of foreboding. A sudden reptilian screech from some way off startled him and caused him to slip and lose his footing. Landing on his back he slid uncontrollable down an embankment and landed in a large mud puddle. 'Jeez' thought Jules to himself as he shook himself off 'what is that smell?' He looked up and found himself face to face with a huge carcass of some dead dinosaur, by the looks of it, it had been there for a while; pretty much all of the meat was gone and all that was left was bone. 'Wait a second' thought Jules 'I've seen this before!'  
  
Back in 1906 Doc Brown was pacing up and down in his study, endeavouring to work out a solution as to how to get Jules back. "Couldn't we just go back to 1845 and stop Jules from tackling one of the robbers?" queried Mary Ann "No, we can't do that" replied Doc "If we go back and stop Jules from being transported away then there would have been no reason for us to go back a second time and it'll cause a paradox" "A major one?" asked Verne looking up from his magazine "I can't be sure of the magnitude an event like that would cause but we simply can't risk it". Verne looked back down to the magazine and turned the page. He stopped, his attention fixated to one certain aspect of the page, his eyes widened. "Dad!" he yelled, causing everyone to almost jump out of their skin "Dad, look at this!" he shouted running across to Doc, the magazine in his hand. He spread the publication out over the study table, it was the same article Mary Ann had noticed back in Vegas, only the photo of the fossil was different; carved onto one of the bones was 'J L B'. "What? But how?" began Clara "It says here" said Doc reading over the article "that this skeleton was found in Hill Valley, dating back some 65 million 38 thousand 6 hundred years but they can not account for this strange engraving on the bones" "Yea, well we definitely can" Verne countered.  
  
Out of the dawn of the Jurassic era the futuristic DeLorean soared out of the sky, the stainless steel exterior iced up from the effects of time travel. As Doc piloted the vehicle Verne gazed out of the window "How far are we from the dinosaur remains?" asked Verne "According to the magazine, they should be just over this ridge" replied Doc. His vision however was suddenly impaired when out of seemingly nowhere a Tyrannosaurus Rex came into view directly ahead of them, it's jaws gleaming. Doc frantically manoeuvred the DeLorean out of it's path as it tried to lunge at them as they flew past. "Man, that was close" Verne exclaimed, looking in the rear view mirror. They spotted the dinosaur remains from the air and landed in the small clearing next to them. Getting out of the car they surveyed their surroundings "Jules!" yelled Doc "Jules! Where are you!". Verne climbed up the small embankment and cupped his hands around his mouth "JULES!" suddenly out of nowhere he was confronted by a hideous creature and was so startled he began to fall backwards. The creature seized him and pulled him back to his feet "Verne, Verne! It's me". Verne eyed the creature curiously; caked in mud he looked like some kind of cave man "Jules?" he asked, "Is that really you?" "Of course it is" snapped Jules. "Oh, thank God" said Doc, climbing up to them "We found you" "Yea," said Jules "what took you so long? I've been waiting here for months!" "Hey, you're lucky we weren't a couple of thousand years off" he retorted, Jules grimaced at the thought. He looked down at himself, at his torn, sodden rags that he was wearing "You got a change of clothes?" he asked, Doc smiled "Don't worry, we'll get you some as soon as we get back" "Back home?" Jules asked "No, we've got to get back to the future!" "Yea, man" Verne said rather confused "1906" is the future from here, remember?" "No, no" said Jules shaking his head "I mean the future future, we've gotta get to the year 2045. That's where these guys are from!" The three of them traipsed back down the embankment to the DeLorean as Jules explained to them what had happened, Doc wasted no time in setting the time coordinates and soon they were off.  
  
"Are you sure this is the place?" Verne asked as they stood looking up at the rather dilapidated warehouse, a large sign in disrepair reading 'Titus Industries' almost hanging off the wall. Jules had taken his chance to get cleaned up and all three of them were now wearing futuristic 2045 clothing to correspond with their new environment. "According to the directory this is the place," said Doc as he tried to open the door but to no avail "Must be locked from the inside" he remarked. Meanwhile, Verne had been searching over the far side of the building and had discovered a small basement window, almost hidden by a cluster of weeds "Hey guys! Over here" he yelled.  
  
They managed to squeeze through what they found to be a window that was much smaller than it looked and dropped down into a dark, dank room that except for a few old broken crates was bare. They crept up a small flight of stairs to the ground floor and into the main expanse of the warehouse. There were, what looked like futuristic sewing machines all lined up in rows reaching all the way back to the far end but as Jules surveyed the place he saw no sign of the machine he'd seen earlier. "Where is it?" asked Verne "I- I don't know, I could have sworn-" Doc meanwhile was searching over by a wall to the right of them and came across a ladder "Jules!" he called "Where does this ladder go?" Jules walked over and looked at it "Eh, up?".  
  
They climbed the ladder and found themselves in a large loft-like space and there, at the far end of the room they could make out, through the darkness, the time machine. "Great Scott!" remarked Doc as he approached it and withheld its magnitude. He was grasped with a sense of confusion as he saw the Flux Capacitor and the various locomotive parts, as well as the funnel that were attached to the machine. "But how can this be?" asked Verne as he joined his father "It has to be my time train" said Doc shaking his head "when we crash landed into that lake it must have been salvaged somehow and then had it's parts gutted to create this machine.  
  
Just then something strange began to happen, even though they were in a sealed room they could feel a breeze come over them. It started to grow stronger as if there were some miniature tornado in the room "What's happening?" said Verne, his hair blowing wildly in the wind "Quick, find cover!" Doc called out as the three of them quickly hid behind some crates and watched as to their amazement the centre of the room began to flicker with electricity. Just like before the air began to ripple and bend then, with a sudden flash they looked on to see the three same men stood there. Quietly, they listened and watched as the three criminals made their way over to the time machine. "Man, that was so cool!" said one as he walked over to one of the conductors and started to make adjustments of some kind. "Did you see that bank tellers face when we pulled our guns on him?" "Yea, well it being 1922 chances are he'd never seen a quantum subtonics accelerator handgun before" laughed one of the others "And now, here we are, 100 years after everyone we just robbed has lived!". "You finished yet?" he then called to the one who was making the adjustments "I wanna go play some slamball" "Yea, just finished" he replied and with that he finished up and they exited the room down the ladder.  
  
"What do we do now?" asked Verne as they came out of their hiding place "I want you two to tail these guys" said Doc "find out who they are, but whatever you do don't interact with them" "What are you going to do?" asked Jules "I'm going to stay here and find out what makes this thing tick" he replied "Now get going all you'll lose them".  
  
The two of them made their way back outside and began to follow the three guys making sure they kept their distance. After a short while they arrived at what looked like some kind of basketball court only with see- through perspects walls all around it; they glanced up the road and realized that the town square was just a little further on. As the three guys entered the court and began to lace up their sneakers, Jules and Verne sat down on a bench close by and watched them. "I'm going to go grab a Pepsi" said one of them finally "Oh come on man!" his friend replied "I wanna play some ball!" "I won't be long" he called as he jogged off past Jules and Verne.  
  
"Hey you!" came a sudden shout in the boys' direction, Jules looked up; one of the fellas was yelling at them; had he been recognised?. Jules pointed to himself questioningly "Yea, you two" he shouted over "what?" replied Jules. He looked at the two of them "You wanna play some two on two?" Jules breathed a sigh of relief "No, that's oka-" he began but then Verne sprang to his feet "Sure we'll play". "What the Hell are you doing?" Jules snapped, grabbing his brothers arm "Dad, said to not interact with them, remember?" "Yea well it's a bit late now" replied Verne "Besides, this game looks like fun". They were both given a spare pair of sneakers which they were told were vital to the game. "My name's Don" the first guy said finally "That's Franko, and the dude who just left is called Joe". Jules shook his hand "So what are the rules?" he asked, Don just smiled "Just make sure your shoes are turned on". Jules looked down and flicked the little flashing light into the 'ON' position "Now what?" he asked "Now we play!" he yelled back as he sent the ball high across the court to his buddy. Franco made a gravity-defying leap into the air and slam-dunked the ball into the net. "Whoa!" exclaimed Verne "Is it the shoes?" "Yea, it is actually" Don laughed, jogging back. They started over again, Verne received the ball but had it knocked out of his grasp just as he was about to pass. The ball sailed back to Don, he dribbled towards Jules and then did a triple somersault over his head; a one two pass with Franco then another flying leap into air and another slam dunk. "Man, we're getting hammered!" exclaimed Jules shaking his head. This time Jules received the ball and went to pass but dummied and instead side-stepped out of the way. He then ricocheted the ball off one of the walls and passed to Verne. With Don bearing down on him Verne turned left and ran straight towards the wall with Franco chasing him too. When he reached the wall he ran right up it, almost to the top and then back flipped, over the guys' heads and drifted the ball into the unguarded net. As the game worn on both teams continued to chalk up their respective scores, Jules and Verne improvising more as the game went on. The Slamball shoes that they were wearing seemed to somehow have both anti-gravitational properties and magnetic powers at the same time. The boys found that they could run along the walls of the arena and leap high into the air with a minimal amount of effort.  
  
By this time Joe who had left to get a Pepsi was making his way back over to the court and as he stood and watched the game unfolding he eyed Jules curiously. "Hey, wait a minute" he called to them, banging his palms on the perspects wall. The four players stopped and looked in his direction. "It's the guy!" he yelled, pointing to Jules "It's the guy who grabbed me!". Don and Franco looked back at him with blank expressions "Dude, what are you talking about?". Joe shook his head from side to side "It's the guy we sent back in time!". Suddenly catching on, the two others stepped a couple of paces towards Jules and Verne. Jules looked at his brother "I think it's time to go" he said and with that they both jumped straight over the heads of the two guys and ran out of the court. Looking around frantically they quickly made for the town square as the three robbers pursued them. Running right across the square they darted into the first shop they saw, 'Blast from the past'.  
  
Leaping over a small hedge the three pursuers stopped in front of the shop door "Don't worry" remarked Franco "They're not going anywhere". Suddenly the door was flung open and Jules and Verne emerged riding a tandem bicycle. Joe leapt at them as they sped past but landed flat on the concrete, "Quick!" yelled Don "Get the car". Jules and Verne raced down the road swerving just out of the way of traffic as the three guys jumped into their parked car and gave chase. Into on coming traffic the boys rode as horns sounded at them and, missing a car by inches they rode up onto the sidewalk as pedestrians scattered "Hey! Watch it!" cried one onlooker as he dived out of the way "What's that thing they're on?" remarked his girlfriend "I don't know" he replied "It looks like some kind of molecular- based carbon situated frame conveyer unit with wheels".  
  
Screeching round the corner and racing down past the clock tower Verne looked behind him to see their pursuers gaining fast "They're gonna ram us!" he yelled. Jules heard a flying car above them and looked up as out of the sky came the DeLorean, as it swooped down towards them the door opened and with one final effort the boys grabbed onto the bottom of the doorway. The car lifted them up off the bike just as their pursuers slammed into it and screeched to a halt. Climbing inside the boys visibly sighed with relief.  
  
"They're gonna get away" cursed Don as they looked up at the DeLorean, Joe, meanwhile produced a gun out of his jacket pocket "Not if I can help it". He let off a single shot that sent a purple plasma bolt which slammed into the underside of the car. Sparks began to fly inside the DeLorean and suddenly the flux capacitor heated up to such an extent that the glass of its casing blew out and the car span uncontrollably on its axis. With one final flash, it disappeared.  
  
In the nights' sky there appeared three exuberant bright blue flashes of light and the DeLorean appeared close to the clock tower at the far corner of the courthouse square. Before any of them had a chance to take in their surroundings the vehicle began to flip violently from side to side, Jules was slammed against the door with such force that the catch gave way and the gull-wing door flicked open. They immediately began to lose altitude and with one almighty jerk Jules was sent flying out of the door and sailed head first into a tree. Doc pulled at the controls but it was no use as the car hurtled over the top of the Auto-repair shop and rocketed down over a few fields and bushes. With one final lunge he managed to sharply avoid a telephone pole and successfully manoeuvre the time machine to a safe but awkward and bumpy landing. Doc immediately looked over at the time display, "Great Scott!" he exclaimed as he realized when they were. As Verne glanced over he saw what Doc was so excited about; they had been randomly sent to Nov/12/1955. "This proves my theory!" Doc stammered "this date must coherently contain some kind of cosmic significance, almost as if it's the temporal junction point of the entire space-time continuum!" "Yea" breathed Verne "Or it could just be another amazing coincidence" "Well, yea, there is that too" said Doc looking over at him "Anyway, come on, we've gotta find Jules, I hope he's alright".  
  
Dazed, Jules opened his eyes and, not realizing he was still up the tree tried to pull himself to his feet. He instantly lost his footing and came crashing down onto the grass below. Shaking himself off he looked up and sighed with relief when he saw that Doc was just up ahead. He staggered to his feet and stumbled over towards him as Doc, with his back to him, appeared to be tightening some kind of wire to a lamppost. "Hey Dad" he called "Dad, what are you doing?", Doc turned around and looked at him "Can I help you with something?" he asked with a confused look on his face "Dad, it's me! What's wrong with you?" exclaimed Jules, now starting to get worked up. At that moment a police officer came up behind him "Everything alright here Doc?" he asked "This young man bothering you?" "What the Hell is going on!?" demanded Jules "I'm afraid I've no idea what he's talking about" said Doc "This is crazy!" Jules yelled in defiance as the officer laid a heavy hand on his shoulder "Maybe you'd better come with me sir" he said sternly "But I don't want to" Jules countered backing away from him. Suddenly the policeman grabbed Jules and forcefully handcuffed him behind his back "Hey! Watch it!" Jules shouted as he was led away by the officer "Sorry for the inconvenience Doc" he called back "That's alright officer" waved Doc as he went back to making his adjustments.  
  
"So you're telling me that that man back there is your father?" asked the officer as he drove the police car along the road with Jules still handcuffed in the back "It's true! Why is that so hard to believe?" asked Jules desperately "Son, I've lived in Hill Valley my whole life and believe me, Doc Brown doesn't have any kids". Jules looked out the window "What year is it?" he asked suddenly, the officer looked at Jules through the rear-view mirror in mild astonishment "You serious?" he asked "No it's cool" Jules stammered "that was probably a different version of him" "A different-" the officer shook his head "I know a couple of guys down town who you should probably have a talk with", and with that the car took a left and drove on.  
  
'This just keeps getting better and better' thought Jules to himself as the car made its way through a large arch and up a long driveway. They finally pulled up next to what looked like some kind of institutional building and Jules finally realised what was going on when he noticed two hefty asylum wardens approaching the car with a straight jacket "Hey! What's the big idea!?" he yelled at the police officer, banging his cuffed hands on the divider, "I'm not crazy!" "That's for the doctors of Melonwood hospital to decide" replied the cop as Jules found himself being yanked out of the car and violently being tied up into the straight jacket.  
  
After much protesting and struggling Jules was finally subdued and he reluctantly agreed to go along with it, if only to bide his time for the moment. A short while later he found himself being released from the straight jacket and put into a ward. The first thing Jules noted was that the inhabitants of the ward were all gathered around on chairs in a small circle with one of the doctors, in what seemed to be some kind of therapy meeting. He was motioned to join them so, reluctantly Jules pulled up a chair and joined the group "Look doctor" said Jules leaning forward "There's been a mix up here; I'm not crazy". The doctor smiled looking over his glasses "we only want to give you the help you need". He glanced down at his clipboard and frowned "I believe, in all the commotion we didn't get your name"; Jules folded his arms, glancing round the room momentarily "Jules, my name's Jules okay?" The doctor smiled again "My name's Dr Taber, Jules". Jules felt a slight tug on his shirt and turned to his left to see a rather strange bearded man staring at him with a really wild look on his face "Did they come for you too?" he asked, his eyes almost bulging out of his head "who?" asked Jules, trying to loosen the guys grip on him "The space aliens! Who else!?" he said raising his voice and inadvertently spraying some spit at Jules. Jules winced, whipping his sleeve across his face in antipathy. "Mr Peabody, that's no way to greet someone now is it?" Dr Taber called over in a calming voice.  
  
The group session went on for a while longer with various other inmates bringing their eccentric-ness to the forefront until Dr Taber finally left. Jules immediately went to the windows to see if he could somehow prize them open and make his escape but to no avail, they were locked tightly. He looked up above the main window where they appeared to be a smaller window that was open slightly. 'It must be for ventilation' thought Jules as he began to ponder whether he could squeeze through it. Either way he'd have to get up there first. "Hey you!" he called over to a peculiar looking guy nearby who was rocking back and forth on the spot "Excuse me" said Jules again "Could you give me a hand here a minute?". The guy turned to look at him "I need you to help me" repeated Jules, unsure if anything was getting through o this guy at all "Why?" he said suddenly "Eh, because I've got to get out of here" said Jules "Why?" he repeated "Well, because I've got to get back" "Black?" said the guy in a shrill voice suddenly staring right at Jules "No, no I said-" "Black!" shrieked the crazy inmate as his eyes began to dart around wildly 'Oh God, I've got him started now' Jules thought to himself "Black like the jaws of death! Beckoning us into the darkness!" Some of the other crazies were looking in their direction now, "We must crawl on our hands and knees to our doom!" he cried, getting onto his hands and knees as he began to crawl around. Jules shook his head and quickly hopped up onto his back as he tried desperately to reach the upper window. Grasping the underside of the sill Jules managed to heave himself up and began to pull himself through the opening. At that moment a couple of wardens entered the ward to see what all the commotion was about, "Hey! Get down from there!" they yelled at Jules when they saw what he was doing. Jules franticly tried to squeeze himself through the window but it was no use, he was stuck.  
  
It took the hospital staff about half an hour to finally remove Jules from the window (having to remove the actual window frame in the process) and Jules found himself being tied up in a straight jacket for the rest of the evening to prevent him from trying to escape again. It must have been about ten O'clock and the entire ward had just been put down for the night, as Jules lay there, strapped to his bed. He could hear the rain lashing against the windows as he glanced down at his constraints. He was being held down by a simple belt buckle but struggle as he might, he could not pull his arms free so he could undo it. Dejected, he decided that it was simply no use and began to close his eyes and go to sleep. Suddenly he opened his eyes again. He thought he'd heard a sort of shuffling sound but being strapped down so tightly he was unable to turn and look. It went again, someone was creeping about near his bed. Suddenly a hand sprang out from nowhere and grabbed his constraints, Jules was about to let out a yell but another hand went over his mouth, muffling his cry. "It's alright Jules, it's us" came a familiar voice and as Jules squinted upwards through the darkness he felt a wave of relief as he saw that it was Doc and Verne standing over him. "How'd you find me?" whispered Jules as they freed him from the bed harnesses "By chance" said Doc "I was recognised by the local policeman and he told us that he'd taken 'that crazy kid' to the mental hospital" "Right" said Jules "now how do we get out of here?".  
  
They made there way out of the ward (Doc having picked the lock to the door) and crept quietly down the hall until they reached the reception. With their backs to the wall they could hear a nurse at the reception watching a TV, just further on was the main door. "Damn" whispered Doc "she wasn't sitting there when we came in". As they were pondering on what to do next there was a sudden loud thunderclap and the grounds outside were lit up by a bolt of lightning. All of the lights and the TV went out and they waited as they heard the nurse grumbling in annoyance as she shuffled about to find a light. They decided to take a chance and scrambled for the door. "Who's there?" cried the nurse having just found a torch and shining it in their direction just in time to see three figures bolting outside. They ran through the rain and over to the DeLorean, which was parked behind a nearby tree and quickly sped off just as some wardens emerged from the institution.  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for?" exclaimed Jules as they sped down the road "Lets get back to the future" "We Eh, we've got a slight problem" said Doc uneasily "when the time machine was shot at, it was damaged" "What? You mean we can't travel through time?" said Jules exasperated "No, no" Doc replied shaking his head "No, it's the flying circuits, the car won't fly anymore". Jules breathed a sigh of relief "Is that all? Okay fine, we'll just get it fixed once we've sorted everything else out" "It's not that simple" said Doc, looking over at him "we need to go to 2045 to destroy the time machine that these criminals are using but the year 2045 is geographically unknown to us. We could accelerate to 88mph down a road and end up in a shopping mall that exists in the future". Jules looked disconsolately at his father "So what do we do?"  
  
The DeLorean drove down a bumpy dirt track and finally came to a stop on some grass. The doors opened and Doc, Jules and Verne got out, looking ahead of them; they had come to the lake. "Well we can scratch that idea then Dad" said Verne, picking up a small stone and tossing it into the water "I mean, we can't drive this thing on water can we?" "Not yet" said Doc as he began to make his way over to a small boat shed that was situated nearby. Doc picked the padlock with one of his tools and slid open the door, shining a torch inside. The boys looked on as the beam shone over some kind of boat, "It's a U-27 Hydroplane; a super boat" said Doc "Lt. Dan McGregor owns it, I used to help him work on the engine sometimes". Jules noticed that the boat had a huge turbine engine located on the back of it "So what are you saying?" he asked "that we retrofit the DeLorean with this things' floats and engine?" "Precisely" said Doc "2045 may be geographically unknown to us but the lake's still going to be there. If we accelerate to 88mph over the water then it just might work" "That's crazy" said Verne with a look of alarm, Jules pondered for a moment "Well, what do we have to lose? If we don't stop those guys then sooner or later they're gonna cause a major paradox and destroy the entire universe anyway."  
  
"So, isn't this Lt. McGregor going to be a bit annoyed that we're destroying his boat?" asked Jules as he held the large turbine engine in place while Doc did his best to bolt it in place. Doc chuckled as he tightened the fixings "I should hope so" he replied, "We put enough work into this thing. But I wouldn't worry, he's not going to find out"  
  
Finally they stood back to admire their handiwork. The DeLorean looked completely ridiculous with the oversized turbine strapped into the back between the two vents and two large kayak style pontoons connected to the inside of each sides wheels. With a slight sense of anxiety they gently slid the modified time vehicle into the water using planks of wood and looked on as it bobbed there and, thankfully stayed afloat. "This is so nuts" said Verne as he was helped into the vessel by Jules as Doc followed up behind, "What'll we do if this thing falls apart while we're doing 70?" Doc looked over as he pulled the door shut "hold your nose and pray". Reaching over the dashboard Doc flicked a makeshift dial that had been stuck there onto the 'on' position. The turbine on the back of the car whirled to life and Doc turned the wheel frantically, altering the crude rudder underneath the vehicle as he positioned them so they were facing the far side of the lake "This is it, hold on" he said as he turned the dial all the way up.  
  
The three of them were literately thrown right back in their seats as the car rocketed off at high speed. Inside Doc was frantically trying to hold the car steady as they were all being shook around violently, hoping the DeLorean would hold together. They gathered speed quicker than they ever had before and as the time machine started to approach 88mph it began to send off brilliantly bright orange and blue sparks. They braced themselves for temporal displacement and held on tightly as the car screamed through the time-barrier and came to an almost abrupt stop which threw the three of them forward in their seats awkwardly.  
  
"What the Hell happened?" said Jules looking round "Why did we stop so suddenly?". Doc opened up the gull wing door and looked down in astonishment; there was a thick sheet of ice surrounding the DeLorean in a two meter radius and as he looked back in the direction they'd come in he could see several more meters of cracked ice starting to float away. "That is so cool" said Verne, looking over his fathers shoulder. "Come on, start paddling" said Doc "we've got to get back to that warehouse".  
  
The three of them found the place empty as the climbed up into the dark attic space that the time machine was contained in. "Well here it is" remarked Jules looking up at it with his arms folded "so, how do we go about dismanteling this thing?" Doc stooped down in the corner of the room and picked up a couple of crowbars, tossing one to Jules. Verne grinned "So when all's said and done the answer is to just smash the Hell out of something, right?" Doc grasped the crowbar firmly and took a huge swipe at the machine as Jules started to join in. The were just starting to get into it when they suddenly heard people coming up the ladder and before they had time to hide they were confronted by the three criminals, all training guns on them. "Jeez, why do you guys keep coming back!?" yelled Don "can't you tell when you're not wanted?" "Look, you've got to understand something" said Doc, lowering his crowbar "you may think you're just committing harmless crimes through time, that your actions bear no real consequence but you're wrong". He motioned to the time machine "Every time you use one of these things you're changing history, perhaps for better, perhaps for worse but either way you're changing things and change damages the space time continuum; believe me I know". "Shut up!" Don interrupted angrily, "Don't lecture me on time travel, I've been to the year 3000!" "Dude, really?" interjected Franco looking across at his him "what was it like?" "well, not much has changed, some people live under water. Oh, and your great great great granddaughter is pretty fine" "Dude!" exclaimed Franco. "Anyway!" shouted Don looking back at Doc "None of this techno babble is going to save your ass, I'm going to send you back to the Dark Ages and this time you're not coming back!" he strode over to the machine and motioned for a large lever when Doc hastily grabbed his arm "Are you crazy!?" cried Doc, his eyes wide and exasperated "We've just been hacking away at this thing with crowbars! There's no telling how unstable this thing's going to be!" "Please!" said Don shrugging his hand off "When we build things we build them robust, what's the worst that's going to happen?" He yanked down hard on the lever but unlike before the machine started to emit a strange kind of low humming sound, all the dials shot over into the red and all of a sudden a blinding blue light burst out of the power conductors as wind started to blast uncontrollable all around them, Jules struggled but was knocked to the floor "This is really bad!" yelled Franco over the torrent of wind as his buddy Joe grabbed hold of his coat tail. "You've initiated a some kind of space time continuum meltdown!" Yelled Doc "What the Hell is that!?" shouted Verne as loud as he could muster. Doc grabbed hold of a supporting beam to steady himself "Imagine the force of a million nuclear weapons" "Oh perfect" yelled Jules "Now image that the explosion was rippling through time itself, both into the future and into the past!" "So pretty much the end of everything then!" Verne shouted back. "What the Hell are we supposed to do!?" Don yelled, frantically trying to stay on his feet as he squinted from the blue light being emitted from the time machine and the tornado of wind blowing in his face. Doc looked at the machine as the whole building continued to shake violently "You salvaged this thing from a time train you found in a lake right?" he bellowed to Don "Yea! How the Hell did you-?" "I need you to open up a time portal to March 16th 2017 at 6:45PM on the lake you found it in!" Don looked over at his two friends "What are you going to do!?" "We don't have time for explanations" shrieked Doc "we've got a matter of minutes before the entire universe is destroyed!!!"  
  
With his arm up protecting his face Don clambered towards the time machine and frantically typed the time and destination into the control panel. The blue light sparkled and began to congeal to create a portal as the building began to shake so violently that cracks started to appear along the ceiling and walls. Through the portal they could make out the image of Docs old steam powered time train sailing uncontrollably downwards. "We need to destroy the flux capacitor on the time train!" yelled Doc "Once that's destroyed it'll mean that this machine never gets built!". Jules looked down at the crowbar still clasped in his hands "Let me go dad!" He shouted. Doc looked across at him, a contorted expression on his face "Okay get going" he yelled finally "There can only be a matter of seconds left!" Jules heaved himself to his feet and began to sprint towards the portal, taking a flying leap into it.  
  
Jules found himself free falling and as he squinted downwards he could make out the time train falling too. Catching up with the descending train he managed to clasp a rung on the front cylinder just as the locomotive crashed to the ground sending up a huge shower of grass and dirt. He tried to clamber up on top of the train but it was rocking to and fro so much that he found himself barely able to cling on. A sudden idea struck him and he reached down for his shoe, crowbar still clutched in his hand and flicked it to the 'On' position. The magnets in the shoe were immediately activated and he found that he could now climb up to the top of the train. He looked ahead of him, at the front end of the train with the flux capacitor encased on it and could see, further ahead the lake rushing towards him as the locomotive skimmed recklessly on. He heard what sounded like a thousand thunder storms rolled into one and squinted at the horizon behind him as he saw a brilliant blue wall of energy engulfing all he could see, coming straight towards him. Mustering all his effort he edged his way right to the front of the train just as the train hit the water. Arms flailing in the air he grasped desperately to the edge of the flux capacitor and brought the crowbar crashing down onto it, smashing the glass covering to pieces and destroying the device. Immediately the wall of light began to dissipate and fade away as the time train began to slow down and sink into the water.  
  
Discarding the crowbar Jules made to dive into the lake but it was no use, his foot was stuck. His shoe must have malfunctioned somehow because try as he might the magnets wouldn't budge from the top of the locomotive. Desperately Jules tried to untie his laces but the train was sinking fast now and before he could react it had been completely submerged and had sucked him down with it.  
  
Agonising moments passed as the surface of the lake began to calm once again. Suddenly, spluttering Jules sprang out of the water, flinging his arms around wildly as he desperately tried to keep afloat. He sank down once more but this time an arm thrust down after him and grabbed his collar tightly. Jules gasped for air as he was pulled out of the water by Doc and Verne and into the DeLorean, which was bobbing up and down on the water. "You- you came back" coughed Jules as he was heaved into one of the seats, his left sock exposed and soaking now that the shoe had been successfully removed. "That's right" said Doc, relieved "Once you destroyed the Flux Capacitor everything went back to normal". They looked out, across to the other side of the lake where they could now see the other Doc and Jules, having just escaped from the sinking train, emerge from the water and clamber out to safety. "So what about the guys who built that machine and started all this mess?" asked Jules as he lay there panting for breath, Doc glanced up at the overcast sky that had only moments before been tinged blue with the very destruction of the universe." I wouldn't worry about them, they're not going to be causing any more destruction to the space time continuum."  
  
The neon lights shone brightly down on Jules and Mary Ann as they made their way through Las Vegas and into one of the flashiest Casinos on the strip. "I've got a fool proof system all worked out," said Jules excitedly as he and his girlfriend walked up to one of the large wheel of fortune games, "So pray tell" said Mary Ann sarcastically "what do you do? See what it lands on then travel five minutes back and place your bet?" "Shhh!" snapped Jules, his finger to his lips "Of course not, Dad would kill me if I tried something like that" "So what's the deal?" asked Mary Ann "Just watch" replied Jules as he place $200 dollars down. "88 black please dealer" said Jules confidently as the dealer smiled and spun the wheel. "Round and round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows," said the dealer in a monotonous tone. The ball bounced and spun up and down as the wheel started to slow "24 red" announced the dealer "sorry sir". Mary Ann looked at Jules slyly, "There was no system, was there?" Jules just shrugged his shoulders "Hey, when you're right 50% of the time you're wrong 50% of the time." Mary Ann chuckled and shook her head "I'm going to go get a drink, you want one?" "Yea sure" he replied as she walked off.  
  
Glancing across the room Jules suddenly got a sense of déjà vu, there was a shady looking man wearing a dark trench coat slowly making his way across the Casino floor. "Nah, it couldn't be" thought Jules to himself "We destroyed their time machine." He looked again and saw the man heading towards an armed guard holding a security box. Jules immediately broke into a sprint and darted for the man "He's got a gun!" he yelled at the top of his lungs causing the shadowy figure to spring around and face him. It wasn't one of the three time travelling criminals at all; this man was older and had a face full of stubble. But the man reached behind him and whipped out a shotgun as people everywhere began to scream and dive for cover. Adrenaline pumping, Jules leapt through the air and clattered into him sending the gun spinning across the floor. The man struggled against him but Jules punched him in the face a couple of times until he was finally dragged off as guards closed in to arrest the stubble-faced man. "Hey, you!" yelled one of the guards to Jules as he handcuffed the man behind his back "You must be crazy or something, this guy could have shot you." Slightly disoriented Jules wiped his arm across his brow "Still, it was pretty damn brave" continued the guard "This guy's been knocking over Casino's round here for weeks."  
  
Jules clambered to his feet as the armed robber was led away and staggered back over to the bar where Mary Ann was still ordering the drinks "Oh there you are" she said when she saw him "where have you been?" Jules shook his head weakly "Oh nowhere, I- I thought I saw Elvis" Mary Ann kissed him gently on the cheek causing Jules to wince slightly from an elbow he'd caught there "Don't be silly honey" she said "He's performing at the Casino across the street tonight." 


End file.
